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The Future of the Believer (1 Corinthians 15)

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 The Future of the Believer Message Introduction

We’re nearing the end of our message series called “Understanding the End Times.” Why are we studying the end times? Because the Bible tells us that we are living in the last days. Not only does the Bible tell us that we are living in the last days, but it reveals information and direction to us. God’s Word opens our eyes to understand the incredible spiritual warfare that characterizes the last days.

God wants us to not just perceive physical reality, but also the underlying spiritual reality of our world. Everything that God reveals to us in His Word is important for us to understand. God’s Word gives hope to those living in these last days. God’s Word provides motivation and encouragement to live and work for the Lord in these last days.

Today, our message is entitled “The Future of the Believer.” In this message, we’re going to be learning about the end of the end times. What marks the end of the end times? The return of Jesus Christ to the planet that He created for human beings to live on. When Christ returns, history will transition from what the Bible calls this present age into the age to come. Next Sunday, we’ll talk more about the age to come, as we look at the new heavens and new earth.

In these last days, the powers of the age to come are already breaking into this present evil age through the Holy Spirit. However, we are still living in mortal physical bodies that are not suited for eternal life. Something has to happen to us in order to live forever.

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 (NIV)  I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–  in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

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Ferguson and God’s Judgment (Malachi 3-4)

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Ferguson and God’s Judgment Message Introduction

We’re in a message series called “Understanding the End Times.” As we go through this series, I trust you’re beginning to understand that as we study the end times, we are learning how to live here and now. Understanding the last days in which we live is essential to following Jesus today. Knowing what is going to happen at the end of this age encourages and guides us as we prioritize our lives for tomorrow.

God’s Word teaches us that those who are wise, live with eternity in mind. Those who are foolish live simply for the present. The times in which we live are unprecedented in the history of the human race.

Daniel 12:4 (NIV)  But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

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The Day of the Lord in God’s Timing (Joel 2)

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The Day of the Lord in God’s Timing Introduction

We’re in a message series called “Understanding the End Times.” Last Sunday, we talked about Wrestling with Radical Evil. If you missed it, you can watch the video on our website. In that message, we saw from God’s Word that both evil and righteousness will grow together throughout the last days in which we live. Ultimately, history will end as we know it, with the climactic Day of the Lord, which will bring salvation for believers and judgment for unbelievers.

Today, my message is entitled “The Timing of God.” We’re going to be looking more closely at the timing of the Day of the Lord. Biblically, the day of the Lord can refer to two different events. First of all, it can refer to a present judgment of God on a nation. In this sense, there have been and will be many days of the Lord. Secondly, the phrase day of the Lord can refer to God’s final judgment at the end of the age.

Too often, we think of God’s intervention in history as future, thinking that it’s far away. Many people think that the world is just going it’s merry way with God simply watching from a distance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, we want to better understand God’s timing of the days of the Lord. God is actively involved in history, right now. God’s judgments are being carried out on peoples and nations, right now. How do we know that? Because God’s Word shows us how God acts in history.

If God is intervening in history with His judgments, how should we respond? That’s the question we are going to look at this morning. …

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Wrestling with Radical Evil (2 Thessalonians 2)

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Wrestling with Radical Evil Message Introduction

We’re in a message series called “Understanding the End Times.” In this series, we’re not interested in charting out exactly when and how everything is going to happen so we can pat ourselves on the back thinking that we understand everything. Rather, we want to understand the end times, the last days in which we live, so that we can live today for Jesus. The prophetic teaching in the Bible was given to encourage and guide the church in these last days.

Today, my message is entitled “Wrestling with Radical Evil.” Our news reports today are filled with evil, radical evil. I’m been alive for a while and the evil portrayed today is the worst that I have seen. Yes, I realize that there have been terrible wars and evil in the past. Yet, the type and magnitude of evil across the nations seems to me to be unprecedented. This is the world in which you and I live in 2014. How can we make sense of it? What should our response to evil be? Where is the world heading and how can we be prepared? …

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Signs of the Times (Mark 13)

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Signs of the Times Message Introduction

Currently, we are talking about “Understanding the End Times.” The term “end times” does not occur in the Bible, which generally uses the phrase “the last days.” I use the terms end times and last days interchangeably. Why would we want to study and understand the end times? Many people think that the end times are way off in the future and have no practical relevance for our lives today. However, in this message series, we have already established that according to the Bible, we are living in the last days. The last days spans the time from Jesus’ ascension into heaven until Jesus returns at His second coming. Therefore, a study of the last days is important to us today, because we are living in those last days. The instructions that God gives in His Word concerning the end times apply to us today.

The purpose of prophetic Scriptures is not for us to be able to figure out exactly when and how everything is going to unfold in the future. The purpose of prophetic Scripture is to help us to live for and obey God right now, in the year 2014 of the last days.

2 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV)  First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

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Jesus Will Come Back (John 14)

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Jesus Will Come Back Message Introduction

Currently, we are talking about “Understanding the End Times.” Last Sunday, we discovered that we are living in the last days, according to the Bible. The last days are the time between Jesus’ ascension into heaven and his return to this earth at the second coming. So the last days have been going on for 2000 years, but one day they will end, when Jesus appears. That’s what we’re going to talk about today in a message entitled “Jesus Will Come Back.”

To begin the message today, I want to put Jesus’ return into historical perspective. God wants you have the big picture of history, which is really His Story, it’s all about Jesus. Too many people just understand bits and pieces of the Bible and don’t understand how it all fits together. But in order to understand the second coming of Jesus, we need to understand what has happened in history. And how the second coming will complete God’s plan for history. Last Sunday, I introduced you to the seven major supernatural events of history, the seven C’s of history. We’re going to look at them again today in light of Jesus’ coming again. …

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